Small quake in S.C. felt hundreds of miles away

Feb. 15, 2014
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by Tony Santaella, WLTX

by Tony Santaella, WLTX

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A magnitude-4.1 earthquake struck South Carolina on Friday night, jolting residents in the Midlands and in two other states.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake hit at 10:23 p.m. about 7 miles west-northwest of Edgefield, S.C. It occurred 3 miles underground.

Thousands of people reported feeling a heavy shaking for several seconds. The tremor was felt across South Carolina, and as far away as downtown Atlanta and Greensboro, N.C.

"I thought a train was passing through," Marie Wade wrote in an e-mail to WXLT. "I live in Cope, S.C., and I have a crack in the bedroom ceiling and below my kitchen cabinets."

Although the earthquake was relatively minor, one this size isn't a common occurrence in the state.

"It's actually fairly rare," said William Doar with the South Carolina Geological Survey. "We usually get 1's and 2's ... every decade or so we get one of these bigger ones. ... The way the crust is, the actual rock, the land that we have on the East Coast, doesn't leave us susceptible to lots of big earthquakes."

The Edgefield County Sheriff's Department told WLTX on Friday night that no damage has been reported there. There have also been no serious damage reports from any other areas.

"I felt my house shake and called the police ... to find out if I was losing it," PJ Sims wrote in an e-mail to WXLT. "I have never felt an earthquake in my 65 years. It shook my bed and chairs."

Another resident who felt her house shaking thought it was a twister.

"I felt the house shaking and heard a roaring noise," wrote Brenda Streett. "I thought it was a tornado so I ran to the door and looked out, but not even the wind was blowing."

Gov. Nikki Haley's office said they'd been in touch with state emergency officials and state police and were evaluating the situation. They said they were a step ahead since the state was already in emergency mode from the winter storm.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation sent crews out to survey roads and bridges for any possible damage. A spokesman for SCE&G said they were doing a walk-through at the Lake Murray Dam as a precaution. At the Savannah River site, officials there say there is no damage.

The South Carolina Emergency Management Division spokesman Derrec Becker says this is the strongest quake in South Carolina since a magnitude-4.4 quake struck near Charleston on Nov. 11, 2002. It's also the 13th earthquake in the state in the past year.

The strongest earthquake in recorded history in South Carolina was a magnitude-7.3 tremor near Charleston in 1886. That quake killed 60 people.